Opinion Digests

Where a defendant was convicted on several felony counts relating to his acquisition, interstate transportation and sale of stolen audio and video components, he should not have received a sentence enhancement under U.S.S.G. Sect. 2B1.1(b)(4)(B) for engaging in “the business ...

Where a petitioner serves as a Bristol Town Councilor and desires also to serve on the Joint Finance Committee for the Bristol/Warren Regional School District, it is my opinion that she would not have an inherent conflict of interest by ...

Where a defendant, who was convicted of murder despite his assertion of self-defense, has appealed on the theory that the trial judge should have permitted him to introduce evidence of the victim’s prior aggressive acts, the appeal is rejected. In ...

Where an arbitration panel ruled that the Providence School Board had violated the “parity clause” in a collective bargaining agreement the board had reached with the Providence Teachers Union, the arbitration award was properly vacated in Superior Court on the ...

Where a defendant, who has been convicted of narcotics offenses, has appealed, we deny and dismiss the appeal because the defendant has failed to demonstrate that the trial judge (1) erred in failing to give an “empty chair” instruction after ...

Where (1) a defendant company was awarded a contract for the installation of an electrical system at the Westerly public schools, (2) the defendant admittedly failed to comply with the prevailing wage rate, (3) the plaintiff contractor, allegedly the second-lowest ...

Where a prison inmate, objecting to the “inaction” of the U.S. Parole Commission, has moved to vacate, set aside or modify his original sentence, the motion must be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. Background “The plaintiff Douglas Azevedo was convicted ...

Where plaintiffs, whose cargo was lost overboard during shipment from Florida to Puerto Rico, brought suit seeking coverage under an open marine cargo insurance policy issued to the shipping company by the defendant, the plaintiffs’ cargo was not within the ...

Where an individual has petitioned this court for a writ of habeas corpus on double jeopardy grounds, his petition must fail, because his double jeopardy claim is unfounded. Discussion “The United States Supreme Court has ruled, in Ursery v. United ...

Where two defendants were convicted of the crime of using a firearm during a drug trafficking crime, we decide that such convictions must be reversed because the government’s theory and the jury instructions given were based on decisions which (1) ...